Writer     ●     Reader     ●    Closet Optimist     ●    Suspected Troublemaker
 

Wendy M. McDonald grew up outside Washington, D. C., and claims she once got in trouble for reading in class. She spent her childhood wishing she could be Turtle Wexler, Harriet M. Welsch, Meg Murry, or Lucy Pevensie. Trapped in reality, she instead concocted bizarre stories with her spelling words and wrote abysmal poetry.

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During high school and college, her poetry matured and darkened, until a classmate demanded, "Do you always have to write about death?" after Wendy read her poem about chairs.

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Apparently...yes.

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Wendy's debut young adult novel, The Willow, is a searing psychological drama examining the lives we are dealt, the lives we wish we had, and how we can find the courage to face the truth. The Willow has been called "poignant," "heartbreaking," and "hopeful," and Wendy still cries when she reads it. But that's a good thing.

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She has short fiction in two anthologies: Chaosium’s Once Upon an Apocalypse (“Mary Had a Little Limb”) and Firsts: The Writers’ Loft Anthology (“First Comes Love”). Wendy's poetry for children is included in two anthologies: Friends and Anemones: Ocean Poems for Children and the forthcoming Gnomes and Ungnomes: Poems of Hidden Creatures. None of her poetry for children is about death—at least, not blatantly.

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Wendy M. McDonald lives outside Boston, where she pens darkish stories in the garret of her home. A former high school English teacher and homeschooling mom, Wendy is now a freelance editor. She helps authors prepare for publication and creates teachers' guides for authors who write for children and young adults.

 

In her free time, Wendy enjoys watching science fiction, fantasy, dark comedy, and animated shows with her geeky husband, knitting socks and fingerless mitts, and generally acting like a dork. She is the proud mom of twins who are both in art school in the greater Boston area, and who have excellent taste in music.